Betrayal, Revenge, and the Rise of the New Order
by Cyanide 6
Summary: Everything Jeremie has known about Aelita is a lie. And she's been playing him from day one. When Odd and Aelita reveal the deapths of their betrayal, they send Jeremie into a vengeful spiral of revenge. Along with Yumi, the two will make Odd and Aelita pay for everything they have ever done... If you're a fan of OxA don't read. Has OxA JxY UxS (yes, a new summary. same story)
1. Chapter 1, Hurt

**One**

"Hey! Hey, I'm talking to you, moron." Jeremie didn't look over. He couldn't bear to hear the thoughts that were being aimed at him.

"Don't you hear her, or are you deaf as well."

Odd and Aelita's derisive laughs snaked through his head. Jeremie was soon violently shoved from his seat in the cafeteria. He blinked blearily at the person who had pushed him from his chair. It was some random kid. It was **always** some random kid. Stealing his stuff. Beating him up. Forcing him to do their homework. It was always 'some random kid' unless it was Odd or Aelita. Then it was worse. Then it was much, much worse.

Jeremie began to pick himself up from the ground, when his extended hand was stepped on by someone's foot.

It wasn't Sissy's foot, though, her heels could draw blood.

At least it wasn't Ulrich or Yumi. Jeremie didn't think he could survive **all** his friends treating him like trash.

He stood up and walked quickly from the cafeteria. He had no reason to be there. He didn't eat anyway. He rarely ever ate anymore.

Jeremie began trudging his way up to his room, when his way was blocked by the last two things he would ever want to see.

"Hey! You weren't listening to Aelita when she was talking to you." Odd put his arm around Aelita, protectively. "You hurt her feelings."

Jeremie looked up at them, warily and wearily, knowing what was coming.

"What is it you wanted to say, Aelita?"

Aelita smirked. "Only that I'm **really** mad at you for doing that 'thing' the other day," she said in mocking tones.

"You upset my princess?" Odd said with mock fury. He smirked. "Guess I'm going to have to knock you into tomorrow!"

Aelita just giggled at her knight in shining armor's 'chivalry'.

Jeremie made it to his room, eventually.

"Look at the bright side," he thought. "At least no seventh graders tried to hit you."

It really wouldn't have been that hard. The past year of rarely eating or sleeping in favor of work had taken a toll on his growth; he now stood at 4 10", five inches shorter than Odd, who had gone through a recent growth spurt.

Tears welled up in Jeremie's eyes when he remembered the old days.

When Aelita loved and cared for him.

Now she tried her hardest to hurt him.

Back when Odd would joke around with him.

Now Odd tries to kill him on a regular basis.

Back when Odd went out with all the girls at school, looking for 'true love' and Jeremie and Aelita, flirted shyly with each other.

Now Odd and Aelita flaunted there relationship, and made sure the whole school knew he was open for torment.

Jeremie had stopped trying to make a reason for Odd and Aelita's sudden hate of him. Stopped trying to find an excuse for them.

He wished he could talk about his problems, but that luxury is meant for people with friends, like the old Jeremie. Before everything went wrong.

One day, they had received a message from Franz Hopper. They were going to free Aelita from the supercomputer. Then, X.A.N.A pulled some trick, and Aelita almost died. Then, they were able to save Aelita, but X.A.N.A escaped from the supercomputer.

The next day Aelita and Odd hated him. The whole school followed suit. And Ulrich and Yumi went into some kind of seclusion, always together, somewhere far away from Jeremie.

Unable to sleep (which had become standard) Jeremie began to work, trying to save the world. Working tirelessly to save the demons that tortured him daily.

The next day was the same. He was beaten within inches of his life. His stuff was stolen (though never his laptop). And he was mocked every possible way, by everyone.

He was walking down the dorm hallway when he was given a violent shove.

He fell to the ground and saw Herb and Nicholas leaning over him. Nicholas held up an arm of books, ready to drop them on Jeremie's head.

"Would you two idiots cut it out and help me over here?" Sissy's voice rang out over their chuckles.

As Sissy walked off, dragging Herb and Nicholas, she tossed Jeremie a look over her shoulder.

Jeremie picked himself up off the ground, only to be bowled over by two boys. When they saw that it was Jeremie, they began to beat on him.

Jeremie's eyes flitted open. He looked at his cell phone, which had spilled out of his pocket, when the two bullies had beaten him up. 9:07 PM.

That meant that everyone had flocked to bed past his unconscious form, but no one had bother to try to help him, other than kicking him to the side.

"The whole school really does hate me," he thought, miserably.

Jeremie got up and made his way to his room, ready to spend another exhausting night, saving the people that had made his world a living hell.


	2. Chapter 2, Betrayal

**Two**

Yumi got home from another date and locked herself in her room. What was going wrong with her and Ulrich?

"Well," she thought "that's easy enough to understand." Ever since X.A.N.A escaped, Yumi had been trying to take life more seriously. X.A.N.A was no longer a threat that the flip of a switch could handle. Though Yumi would have never considered flipping the switch on Aelita, (Jeremie would've killed her) the constant comfort it brought helped her through her missions. Now, X.A.N.A was more of a threat than ever, and Yumi had no time in her preoccupied mind for useless drabble.

Ulrich, on the other hand, was going in the opposite direction. He was acting like "Now that X.A.N.A is out, let's take life less seriously." He never wanted to talk about anything important. It was all useless school stuff and sports and movies. If she even tried to bring up something important, much less X.A.N.A, he changed the subject, or acted fidgety.

"Can't he see I need someone to talk to? Doesn't he know I'm scared too?" Yumi thought. She buried herself under her blankets.

"Maybe," she thought. "Maybe, Ulrich isn't the only one I can talk to."

Odd was way to happy-go-lucky, he definitely wouldn't want to talk about X.A.N.A. Aelita had gone through enough. That left Jeremie.

Happier she got up and turned off her lights.

"It's about time I reconnect with my friends," she thought.

Since X.A.N.A had been freed, Yumi had concentrated her thoughts on Ulrich. They spent all their time between classes and during lunch away together and alone. Not that it helped anything. Yumi needed some time away from him.

"Have I even spoken to them?" Yumi wondered.

She hadn't gotten any calls or texts from Odd, Aelita, or Jeremie. And, no, she hadn't talked to them since they left the factory that night. X.A.N.A hadn't attack since then, so, for a whole month, she hadn't seen her friends.

"Tomorrow," she told herself. "Tomorrow."

So, straight after class, on her first break, she went up to Jeremie's room.

"Hey, Einstein, might if I come in?"

She slid in. He was working on his computer. She sat down on his bed.

"Sorry we haven't hung out much. I'd been **too** preoccupied trying to get Ulrich **more** preoccupied with the fact that, now that X.A.N.A is out, we **have** to be preoccupied with him, but Ulrich seems only concerned with useless stuff now. Has he talked to you at all? He said that things 'were confusing' around you guys. I know you can be confusing, Jeremie, but Odd? Aelita? I asked him to explain, but that's all he offered. Confusing. How could Odd and Aelita be confusing?"

"I'll tell you how **they** can be confusing!" Yumi jumped at Jeremie's harsh tone. He had spun around in his chair to face her, and Yumi saw his pale, emaciated, angry, tearstained face. "One minute everything's **fine**, the next minute everyone hates you! You try to figure out **why**, but they just push you down another staircase! She used to like me! Now she HATES me! Odd and her are my **demons**! They try to- no, they **make** my life hell! I HATE them! The whole school is on their side, trying to KILL me! For no reason**!** And where have **YOU** been! You think **YOUR** problems are bad! YOU HAVE NO IDEA!"

Jeremie flopped his head on his desk, sobbing.

Yumi stared for a moment.

"Jeremie, what's been going on?"

He looked up, and Yumi saw his face was cut and bruised. "Just go," he whispered quietly.

Yumi left, not sure of what else to say. She decided to keep an eye on Jeremie.

Over the next two days, Yumi understood what Jeremie was talking about. By Thursday, she had had enough.

"Aelita! Odd!" Yumi burst into Aelita's room, where Sissi had said they were. She found the pair kissing on Aelita's bed.

Aelita looked up. "Oh, Yumi. Long time no see."

"Yeah," said Odd, "whassup?"

Yumi blinked. They sounded so… normal. So unlike they did when they were torturing Jeremie. She decided to play things calm.

"I was just wondering what's up with all the Jeremie hate."

They exchanged glances, biting down smiles and giggles.

Aelita looked at Yumi, "Promise you won't tell?"

"Yeah," said Odd, "promised or we'll have to Ulrich you."

They both broke out giggling.

Yumi would ask what Ulriching her meant, but first things first.

"Sure, I promise. What's the big deal?"

"Well," Aelita started, her tone now mocking and cynical, "remember back when Jeremie turned on the supercomputer? I was just a little innocent AI… until I remembered my personality. When Odd first met me on Lyoko, I knew he was just like me. Cunning. Clever. And so we planned. Oddy, knew Jeremie would never risk the world, unless something was in it for him, so we decided that, since he was obviously infatuated with me, I would pretend to share 'romantic feelings' with the little twerp. When he got me out of the Lyoko, we could dump the love-struck idiot, and be together. Unfortunately, it wasn't that easy. Apparently, Jeremie wasn't the naïve genius I had thought he was, he was a naïve moron. When it became obvious that it was gonna take him **forever** to get me out of there, I quickly put on my 'naïve fairy princess' act. And he gullibly ate it up, the brain-dead idiot."

Odd laughed harshly. "It was so funny when we'd talk on the laptop I kept stealing from him. Aelita would go over, in detail, all the stupid, soppy, awkward things he'd say."

"The things he 'would only ever discuss with me' because I was so 'different' and 'trustworthy' and would 'never ever tell someone else'."

"Aelita does the best Jeremie imitation."

"'Oh Aelita! Someday you'll be out of there, and then we can be best fwends fowever!'" Aelita crowed, with a cruelly overdone imitation of Jeremie's unbroken voice.

"It was so funny," Odd laughed.

"And when I finally was out, I realized that I was still not free, but four-eyes didn't realize it."

"He took her on a date!" Odd gasped, laughing so hard he could hardly breath. "He took her on a date in a photo booth."

Aelita was giggling hard now. "'Ooh! Is that a scanner?' Moron. I still have the dumb pictures."

They were now both laughing so hard they clutching their sides.

Yumi felt cold.

She remembered how Jeremie would sometimes confides to her what Aelita had said, wondering what she meant by it. Yumi had always assured him that Aelita really cared for him, really liked him.

All of that had been a cruel lie. Yumi imagined them in Aelita's room, imitating everything Jeremie had confided with Aelita, trusting her. Yumi could imagine them laughing cruelly over the pictures they had taken on their first 'date'. The images made Yumi feel sick.

Worse than sick, she felt like she was going to throw up. She wanted to hit them, to wipe their stupid smiles off their stupid faces. She didn't know what she expected to hear when she talked to them, but she wanted the universe to take it back. To make Aelita an innocent girl, not an evil twisted witch, who could act her way into an innocent boy's heart, and then crush it. She wanted Odd to be a funny, lighthearted boy who tried to find true love, not a monster who would pretend to befriend someone while dating his 'girlfriend'.

Yumi wanted the universe to take it back, but she had learned the world didn't work that way. Lyoko had taught her that.

As she looked, shaking, at the howling couple, she realized that the innocent girl and lighthearted boy never existed. That they had always been these monsters.

"And then?" She asked, trying to keep her voice even.

"Then" Aelita gasped. "When X.A.N.A escaped, we realized, we didn't have to pretend anymore. That, Jerkamie couldn't turn off the supercomputer if he wanted to."

"So we let our little acts down, and punished him for making Aelita wait in Lyoko for so long."

"So, this is punishment? Your torturing him for revenge?" Yumi asked.

Aelita shrugged. "Kinda. But we really just like seeing him cry. Seeing him hurt. There's something pleasing in breaking his little glass heart and stepping on the pieces. Letting him know that I **hate** him, and having him not know why. Hearing him ask 'Why Aewita' as Odd crushes him into the dirt."

Odd smirked. "You have to admit, there's something kinda funny about it."

"Funny like a heart attack," Yumi thought. "Sure, it's pretty funny," she said, trying to give a casual smile. "What about Ulrich?"

"Well ya see," Odd said. "We weren't sure that you would agree with us. When we told Ulrich, right after X.A.N.A got out, he was really angry. He said he'd tell Jeremie, and flay us within inches of our lives if we tried to hurt Jeremie." Odd shook his head, pitying.

"So," said Aelita, "Odd knocked him out that night, we dragged him to the factory, and implanted a little virus in his head."

"It made him forget," Odd said. "It made him sorta get all fuzzy whenever he was around us. So, no harm done there, he's always fuzzy-brained!"

They began to laugh again.

Yumi thought of how Ulrich described Odd, Aelita, and Jeremie and 'confusing'. This would explain it.

Trying to suppress the growing urge to do something painful, violent, and permanent to Odd and Aelita, she stood up from the bed where she'd been sitting.

"I have to go, I have to get home."

"Sure" said Odd. "But, don't tell Jerkamie, 'kay? Or we'll have to Ulrich you."

Yumi smirked, "Why would I tell him? It'd spoil the fun."

Then she left.

Outside, she made a beeline for Jeremie's room.

She burst in without knocking.

Jeremie whipped around, blue eyes huge and terrified. When he saw it was Yumi, he calmed down.

"Yumi," he whispered "I'm sorry for yelling at you. I was angry."

"Jeremie," she said, unhesitatingly, "there's something I have to tell you. You're not going to like it, but I have to say it."

Then her story came out. Their lies, their betrayal, everything.

When she finished she looked at Jeremie. His head was down, looking at something in his hand. He was trembling.

"I did **everything** for her. I put my life on hold, risking the planet, my life, my health, my sanity. I went **weeks** without eating or sleeping. I skipped my classes. I've spoken to my parents **once** the whole year. I've stayed over vacations. I've worked for **days** straight. I've given up hanging out with my **friends**. All for her. All so that we would never have to shut her down."

Yumi saw what he had been holding was one of the pictures they had taken in the photo both. Aelita was wearing Jeremie's glasses, and they were making goofy faces. Something hardened in her. She had never felt so much fury in her life.

Jeremie looked up. Yumi saw something had changed in his eyes. Something had snapped. The look on his face told her that he was never going to let someone walk over him again.

"Yumi," he said. His voice was unnaturally calm and calculating and didn't match the rage in his eyes. "I need you to help me get something."

"What?" She said, willing to help him with anything.

His icy eyes held her.

"Revenge."


	3. Chapter 3, Revenge Part One, Preparation

**Three**

Yumi and Jeremie spent that whole night planning.

Yumi had told Jeremie that she had been originally afraid that Aelita and Odd would find out she'd told him and do something horrible to her, but after that night, she was no longer worried.

They had completely underestimated him.

They thought of him as a little naïve servant who would do there will. They thought they were the powerful ones, the smart ones, the ones with the ability to do what they pleased.

They had forgotten who had created Aelita from a few strands of computer data. They had neglected to take into account who had refurbished the return trip program, who had built the voice synthesizer, who turns real humans into computerized pixels regularly, who expanded on the cloning process, who can hack into government satellites in a few seconds, who can crack codes, write programs, change people's physical structure, implant viruses in them and then take them away…

They had not quite thought out the repercussions of abusing the person with this power, both mentally and physically, bringing him to the brink of his tolerance. They had willingly pushed him this far, and hadn't thought about what would happen if he snapped.

Which is exactly what happened.

Their plan was simple enough. They first needed a X.A.N.A attack. The rest would be easy.

Yumi had originally wanted to do to them what they had done to Jeremie, but he told her that would be impossible. Sure, no one in the school really **liked** Odd or Aelita. The school thought the couple creepy, but no one would be willing to say that. Odd and Aelita held some kind of power over them.

No, Jeremie had said, we need to be quick and effective. We can't let the world trace this back to us.

"My job is harder," he told her. "All you have to do is stay away from me, and, maybe, occasionally beat on me." He looked up at the shock in her face. "You don't have to. You can pretend to still be preoccupied with Ulrich."

"I'll do that. I- I really don't want to hurt you."

Jeremie was taken aback by the softness in her voice. It was far different from the murderous tones they had been using previously. He saw something in her eyes, anger and vengeance, yes, but also fierce protectiveness and, maybe something more? Jeremie had always had to protect Aelita. From the world, from the school, from X.A.N.A., from reality. He always had to be **her** shield. She had never thought to try and protect him, even if he was the one whose work was slowly unraveling his sanity. Well, of course not.

But, the look in Yumi's eyes made him wonder if there was a different kind of relationship. If, maybe, Jeremie didn't always have to be the one to protect, maybe, for once, someone else could be there for him.

Jeremie shook himself from his little insight.

"Anyway, once X.A.N.A launches an attack, things should be easy. I can do my work at the factory. Aelita," his eyes hardened, "doesn't exactly check in on me anymore."

Yumi frowned. "What if it's just a virus, like the one in Ulrich? I had thought-"

Jeremie shook his head. "Believe me, I tried that. The first night they started acting this way. I tried to come up with any excuse for her, well, for both of their behaviors." He looked at Yumi. "I would've done anything to get them back, to understand why." He glared, bitterly. "But, what you've told me has convinced me that, there's really no condoning their actions. They've been evil the whole time."

Yumi kneeled down, to look him in the eye. "You don't have to worry about them anymore." She put a hand on his shoulder. "And after we're finished with them, if anyone lays a finger on you, I'll kill them."

Jeremie smiled. It had been a month since anyone had shown this kind of protection toward him.

"All I gotta do, until we finish, is keep getting beat up."

Yumi frowned. "I wish there was a was to change things sooner-"

Jeremie shook his head. "Unfortunately, there isn't. But don't worry, I'm a good actor. I can pretend to be hurt and depressed if I want to. And you're a good actress, to. I have faith that you can keep this a secret."

"You can count on me." Yumi eyed the clock. "Oh my God! It's 8:00! We're gonna be late for class."

That night, while Jeremie was working on his computer, putting the final touches on the program he needed to progress his and Yumi's plan, he heard a beeping.

"Yes," he hissed to himself. X.A.N.A had activated a tower,

At the factory, Jeremie was calling out warnings to his friends and Odd and Aelita, in a dull, lifeless voice.

"Yumi, you only have twenty lifepoints left. It is essential that you stay virtualized."

"Gee, stupid, ya know the rest of us need to stay virtualized to," Odd's menacing call rang out.

"Yeah," came Aelita's faux hurt voice. "You don't want **me** to get hurt, do you?"

"Yes," Jeremie thought. "With all my heart, soul, and mind I want you to get hurt."

"Sorry," he mumbled into his mike.

"You'll be more than sorry," Odd singsonged evilly.

"Come on," Ulrich's distracted, foggy voice floated over. "We don't have… time for… this."

"Yeah," Yumi said. "As much as I'd love to make him cry, we do have a world to save."

Soon the tower was deactivated.

"Alright, I'm bringing in Odd and Ulrich first."

The materialization process flashed by on his screen, and the next second, Odd and Ulrich were standing in the floor below him.

"Aelita, Yumi your next." Jeremie waited a few seconds, before calling out, "uh oh."

"What is it?" Odd's voice floated over as he stepped into the lab.

Jeremie quickly programmed a few flashing angry exclamation points all over the screen. He pointed at them.

"X.A.N.A's bugged up Aelita's materialization program. I'm gonna see if I can transfer Yumi's code to her."

"Can you do that?" Aelita's sardonic voice drifted out of his headset.

"I should be able to. It'll take a sec. You girls need to wait in a tower."

"Hey watch who your giving orders to, Jerkamie," Yumi's harsh tones rang out.

Odd frowned and balled up a fist. "Yeah, leave my princess alone."

"I'm just trying- I mean- I…" Jeremie stammered.

"I have an idea!" Aelita said cheerfully. "Let's go wait in that tower!"

"Great idea, princess," Odd called. He then socked Jeremie. "Can't you do anything right! They could have been devirtualized permanently."

"I- I did tell them to-" Jeremie's comment was interrupted by another whack.

"Don't diss your betters," he growled, dangerously.

"We should… go… to bed," came a disjointed comment from Ulrich.

Jeremie felt a pang of guilt for his friend who was living his life acting like and idiot, all for standing up for Jeremie. Jeremie looked at Odd, who was giving Ulrich a belittling smirk as he walked off.

"You never valued his friendship at all, did you?" Jeremie thought. "You were just using him. For what, I'll never know." He watched the elevator close behind them, and then set to work, not on transferring Yumi's 'code' to Aelita, whatever that meant, but on his real purpose.

A 'key' transfer.

A few hours later Jeremie was still working. The girls were in a state of 'unconsciousness' in their tower. Jeremie had to make sure everything went perfectly, so Aelita would never suspect a thing.

The first problem Jeremie and Yumi had run into was the issue of how they could do something permanently 'harmful' to Aelita if she was necessary to deactivate towers. They had come up with the solution to transfer what remained of the key from Aelita to Yumi. That way Yumi could deactivate towers instead of Aelita.

But, things were taking awhile, and Jeremie was nervous that Odd would come back, demanding what was taking so long.

Jeremie glanced at the screen. It was loading, and if it popped up affirmatively, then he know he had succeeded.

Just then he heard the elevator open, and he quickly rearranged his features from one of anger and determination, to one of devastation and wariness.

"Finished yet?" Came Odd's cold voice from behind him.

Just then, the screen beeped. Jeremie fought the maleficent smile that wanted to creep across his face.

"Yes," he replied tentatively.

On Lyoko, the girls 'woke up'.

"Well, that's great, but how the hell am I supposed to get off here," Yumi snarled.

"You still have your material code; you have a stronger material code; I just gave Aelita **some** of your code because she doesn't need as much. Her original code was not as strong," Jeremie said, improvising.

He felt himself shoved from his seat.

"You saying my princess doesn't have a strong material code!" Odd thundered.

Jeremie forced his eyes to fill with tears. "Only because she's spent so long on Lyoko, it's weakened her material code."

Odd's eyes narrowed. "Alright, I'll let you get away with dissing my princess, only 'cause I'm too tired to knock you into tomorrow."

Once the girls were back on Earth, they rode the elevator up to get Odd. Odd and Aelita immediately latched onto each other's lips. As the elevator closed, Yumi shot a look at Jeremie.

Jeremie gave her a slow nod, and saw the smile creep across her face as the door closed.


	4. Chapter 4, Intermission, A Few Questions

**Four**

Jeremie went to his room after a long, painful day of school. He had been locked outside in the snow for the entire lunch period, and his emaciated form was finding it hard to warm up.

He found a letter under his keyboard.

Aelita and Odd had let him lock his room so no one could mess up Lyoko. They still cared for the world, even if they hated him.

Jeremie unfolded the letter. It was from Yumi, as he had expected. The only way they could keep contact was by slipping each other letters. Otherwise, Aelita and Odd might get suspicious, and that would ruin everything.

_My eternal friend Jeremie_

_I hope all is going well with your work. I understand that waiting to strike is difficult, and is trying your patience. I can see the look on your face when they're together, or when they egg the students into attacking you, I see how you want to lash out. I hope you can keep your sanity together while we finish the details on our plan, then things **will** get better, I promise._

_I know how both of us felt when we heard the full extent of their actions, and I know that nothing would have satisfied you more than to run in their rooms and cleave their heads in with a machete. But, we both know that nothing is ever as simple as that, and we both know that first instincts are rarely the best courses of action, especially when driven by a rush of emotion._

_Onto more pressing details, are you sure Aelita's key has been completely transferred? It isn't that I don't trust you, but if the slightest bit is left in her, then it will be completely gone when she is. Are you sure she can't detect it's absence? I didn't feel any different when you gave it to me, but I'd just like to make sure. I am also certain of the matter in which we will handle things. I have nearly experienced quite a plethora of deaths, and know which ones will serve our purposes best. Besides, we need to keep things ambiguous, so that nothing can be traced back to us._

_Anyway, I have to go. I'm being called downstairs. How I envy your being a boarder, no parents to order you. Like I said previously, have patience, the end of this will come with the end of them._

_Your close, loyal friend_

_Yumi_

Jeremie smiled at her letter and quickly wrote back.

_My close, loyal friend Yumi,_

_I agree with you on the world not letting us get away with initial instincts. I'm sure of my transfer; there is no part of the key left inside her. I have also made sure that she would feel no difference post-key verses pre-key._

_I have contemplated our previous notions that the world has cursed us, and have come to this conclusion._

_The world is not a sentient, loving mother who looks out for and dotes upon her creations. The world is a large rock on which plants, animals, and humans thrive upon. The world doesn't care about us because it can't. There is no sense in waiting around for things to get better. Children in Africa are born, their parents die of starvation or some illness, and then they die the same way. The world doesn't look out for them. Life is not a storybook in which things 'always get better in the end'. Things don't. You could live being hated by all around you, despite what you do, and then die a painful, untimely death, without things ever getting better. The simple, cruel truth._

_So, there are my cheerful thoughts for the day. Maybe you're right, maybe I am going crazy. And you're definitely right about having patience. Sometimes I think I'll go completely insane from waiting, sometimes I wish I could, as you say 'run in their rooms and cleave their heads in with a machete', but also, as you say, 'have patience'. And I will try, I will._

_Yours forever, unwavering_

_Jeremie_

As he sealed his letter, Jeremie couldn't help but smile at the odd formality they used when writing each other. It had always been present in his letters, and he was glad that he was not the only one who found it difficult to write casually.

Jeremie put the letter under his computer keyboard, where Yumi would find it. Odd and Aelita and both of his friends all had keys to each other's rooms. Jeremie's had been taken by Aelita, but the others still had theirs. Odd and Aelita never went in his room anymore, he had changed their keys to prove it. Only Yumi ever came in anymore, and that was only to pick up the letters Jeremie hid for her. She couldn't stay, or she'd raise suspicion.

Jeremie then set to work. He was really close to completing their plan. He just needed one more component fixed, and that would be done tomorrow. Just then, something happened that made his heart skip a beat.

His scan bleeped, indicating a X.A.N.A. attack.

He smacked his head into his head, how could they have been so stupid?

What was he supposed to tell Aelita when Yumi deactivated the tower? He couldn't ignore the attack! His and Yumi's plan was deteriorating in front of his eyes.

He called Yumi.

"Yumi, we have a problem," he said, the instant she picked up.

"Those two demons aren't trying to kill you are they. 'Cause if they are-"

"No, it's worse. X.A.N.A.'s attacking!"

It took her a moment. Then "Oh, that's really bad. Can't you tell them it's a malfunction or something? Or maybe..." her voice trailed off. Then she exclaimed, "Who's trying to call me at this time of night? Sorry, Jeremie, Ulrich's trying to call, I just got a call waiting signal."

"That's it!" He exclaimed. Suddenly things didn't seem as bad. "Yumi, tell Ulrich that there's a X.A.N.A. attack. Don't tell Odd or Aelita. You and Ulrich will have to deactivate the tower on your own, but you should be able to handle it."

"What if Ulrich says something? What if he mumbles something about 'the attack last night'?"

"I'll tell him not to. Things get blurry for him when I talk to him, so he shouldn't say anything. Besides," he added, sinisterly, "we only have to count on his silence for the rest of today. Then it won't matter."

"You are a genius," Yumi said, smirking. "I'll tell him now, see you at the factory."

.

At the factory, things were not going well.

Yumi tore through the ice sector on her overwing next to Ulrich on his overbike. Both had about forty lifepoints, and just ahead of them, a megatank had arrived.

"Fall back, Yumi," Jeremie's voice rang out.

"I can take it," she said, unsheathing her fans.

"Maybe, but we can't risk it. You have the key now, remember. You can't be reckless. Ulrich take care of that megatank."

Yumi pulled back on her overwing as Ulrich rode closer. The megatank opened, and Ulrich leapt on top of it, stabbing his saber into its X.A.N.A. mark. The megatank exploded. Yumi felt a shot on her back. She whipped around, blocking with her fans. A single kankrelat stood behind her. A normally laughable foe, now turn life threatening by Yumi's alarmingly low twenty lifepoints.

"Yumi! Get out of there!" Jeremie's panicked voice cried.

Ulrich drove toward it, stabbing just as it devirtualized him. Another kankrelat stepped out from behind an iceberg.

Yumi's felt like her heart stopped. She threw a fan at it, then took off. She fell to the ground as it destroyed her overwing. She began running. She was too far away from the tower she'd never make it.

"Yumi what are you doing?" Jeremie shrieked.

"I have to fight it; I'm too far away to outrun it."

"You don't even have your fan!"

Yumi ducked behind a rock and pictured her fan, imbedded in the ice a few feet away. Hands to her head, she moved the fan toward the approaching kankrelat. Her face sliced through the air, just missing.

The kankrelat rounded the corner and began charging up.

The fan sliced back around, destroying the kankrelat.

Yumi breathed a sigh of relief, exhausted. Before X.A.N.A. could summon any more monsters, she entered the tower.

Deactivating a tower was like nothing she had ever experienced before.

Upon entering she felt an over whelming feeling of calmness flow through her. She began to float upward, like a puppet being pulled up gracefully.

She landed on a Lyoko mark, high above the entrance of the tower. She slowly placed her hand on the console that had appeared.

YUMI

CODE:

LYOKO

"Tower deactivated," she murmured instinctively.

.

Back on Earth, she talked to Jeremie, quietly. They had already seen Ulrich off, with the assurance he wouldn't say a thing.

"We can't let things get that close again," Yumi whispered, soothingly. She knew that he hated the idea of a new Lyoko Warrior. More because he was afraid of opening his heart to a potential friend, then because he was afraid of Lyoko being revealed.

He looked at her, sorrowful resignation in his eyes. "I know," he whispered. "You and Ulrich just can't manage it on your own."

Yumi smiled, sadly. She knew that Jeremie didn't mean this as an insult.

She kissed him lightly on the top of the head. "Don't worry, we won't let anyone bad enter our group." She looked him in the eye. He sighed and nodded.

"I know, I trust you. Goodnight."

As Yumi walked off, she thought bitterly of how many times Jeremie had told Aelita that.

It wouldn't matter after tomorrow.

She stepped in the elevator and looked at Jeremie. "Tomorrow?" She asked.

The worry and sorrow slipped off his face, leaving a stony, dark mask in its place.

"Tomorrow," he hissed.

**They will get there revenge in the next chapter, I promise. I just had to clear a few things up first.**


	5. Chapter 5, Revenge Part Two, Finished

Aelita was wrapped in a passionate embrace with Odd, when she heard her phone ring. It was Jeremie's ringtone.

They broke apart as Aelita picked up her phone.

"This sucks," she thought, irritated that Jeremie's was the only ringtone she had to drop everything and answer, due to her duty. Sometimes (most of the times) Aelita felt the whole world could go to hell. She hated her duty to it. If it wasn't for Odd's reminder that X.A.N.A. wouldn't likely let them survive if he destroyed the world, Aelita would be perfectly content with letting it be his.

"This had better be important, moron," she hissed upon answering her phone.

"It is," Jeremie's tearful voice warbled back. "X.A.N.A. made an attack, and I need your help."

Aelita groaned. "Deactivating help? Or the kind of help you ask for when you're too stupid to figure things out yourself?"

"The latter," he whispered.

Odd snatched the phone from her hand.

"You'd better not be ordering my princess around, or it'll be the last order you ever give!"

Aelita couldn't help giggling. Odd was such a character, perfect for her.

"He's too dumb to figure things out on his own, he needs your help," Aelita told Odd.

"He **is** stupid," Odd said in disgust, shaking his head.

Aelita hung up her phone, without answering Jeremie's question of when she'd be there.

"We can leave in a minute," she said, turning back to Odd.

.

Jeremie paced back and forth, worrying.

What if they suspected something? What if they didn't come? What if they already knew what he was planning?

Jeremie kept walking in front of the room in front of him.

It looked like many of the interior rooms in the factory: empty, metal walls, nondescript.

But, it was different. The only visible different was the large, reinforced glass door. Jeremie had made it as strong as steel, and completely transparent, with the exception of the handle and lock, which seemed to hover in mid-air, if you looked close enough to see it in the dim light.

But, Jeremie was hoping that Odd and Aelita wouldn't look too closely.

The other difference was the insulation and the configurations built into the walls. They were invisible, and indestructible from the inside of the room. Yumi had assured him that they were the best way to deal with the two.

Yumi wasn't here, she was coaxing Ulrich into the factory. Jeremie would help them momentarily, as soon as he started their revenge process.

He heard voices. He quickly rearranged his calculating face into one of despair.

"Are you sure the idiot's phone was coming from here?" Odd's voice asked.

"Yes," Aelita replied. "I tracked it because stupid didn't give me directions."

As they rounded the corner, Jeremie maintained his appearance, as hard as it was, with victory so close.

"So," Aelita asked. "Where is your X.A.N.A. attack?"

Jeremie pointed at the room. As they walked into it, Odd shoved Jeremie so hard that he slammed against the wall.

He struggled to his feet and looked at them, standing in the middle of the room.

"It's this easy?" He asked himself, before closing the glass door and locking it.

"So?" Aelita asked. "What exactly am I looking for? Or were you too dumb, too absolutely stupid to see that the room is empty, and just like every other room?"

Jeremie let the smile break across his face. "No, Aelita," he said, quietly, calmly. "You're the stupid one. Or can't you see that the room is nothing like the other rooms."

Odd whipped around, eyes on fire. "What did you call my princess?" He growled dangerously. For a moment Jeremie felt his heart skip as he looked at the two enraged faces. Then he felt himself calm. He was out here. They were in there. And they would never leave of there own will again.

Odd stepped toward him, before smacking into the transparent wall.

Jeremie laughed, mirthlessly. "I called her stupid. And, it looks like she's not the only one."

Odd blinked, dazedly.

Then Yumi came.

"Yumi!" Aelita shrieked. "Jerkamie's trapped us in here! Why don't you remind him why he doesn't lock his betters up?"

Yumi turned to Jeremie. "Okay. Why don't you lock your betters up?"

He smirked. "It's impossible. I have none."

Yumi nodded. "Sounds like a good answer to me."

Aelita and Odd stared.

"You traitor!" Aelita screamed. "You've been lying to us this whole time?"

That set Jeremie off. "HOW DARE **YOU**! She was lying to **YOU**! ARE YOU EVEN HUMAN? Are you COMPLETEY BLIND? **YOU** were the ones who lied! YOU were the ones who lied! **TO ME!** I did **EVERYTHING** for you! **EVERYTHING!** Did you forget? Is THAT why you HATE me now? NO! You HATED me the whole time! Why? For turning the supercomputer on? For working tirelessly to save **you**? For putting my life on hold for **you**? For driving myself insane for **you**? What did I do to deserve your HATE? And YOU have the NERVE to feel BETRAYED? Now it's YOUR turn! YOU'RE GOING TO **DIE** in there!"

Yumi put a hand on Jeremie's shaking shoulder.

Aelita cut a glare at her, then smirked at Jeremie, smugly. "That may be all good and well, but we're going to kill BOTH of you when we get out of here."

"Yeah," Odd said, scathingly. "And that will happen as soon as X.A.N.A. activated a tower. You NEED us!"

Jeremie and Yumi exchanged glances.

"Why do we NEED you," Jeremie asked, his voice like ice, "when Yumi can deactivate towers?"

They both stared. "What are you talking about?" Odd asked derisively.

Yumi raised an eyebrow. "Well, **you** thought it was a, what, 'material code'? Actually, he was giving me your key. Suck on that!"

They stared, and, for the first time since they had turned on him, Jeremie saw something else in their eyes than hateful scorn. He saw fear.

"You took my key?" Aelita asked.

She blinked.

Odd shivered.

"Hey, that's great, you 'took her key'." Odd snorted. "Right. Now let us out, it's freezing in here."

Yumi shook her head. "You're not walking out of there," she whispered, chillingly. "In fact, you're never walking again."

"And, it's cold in there? Good, you finally noticed. Get used to it, it's going to be the last thing you ever feel!" Jeremie hissed, evilly. He typed an order on his laptop, lowering the temperature five more degrees. 33°.

Yumi cocked her head at him. "Let's let them sit in that for a while."

He nodded, turning to the two traitors. "There's someone else's life who you've ruin that we've gotta fix."

The two took off, leaving Aelita and Odd in near freezing temperatures, alone.

.

Ulrich stood alone, waiting.

He couldn't quite remember why he was there. Something Yumi had said: "Wait here." That sounded right. But then she said something else: "Jeremie's coming."

Well **that** couldn't be right. That was too… confusing. So why was he here?

Ulrich was getting frustrated.

Suddenly he was hit with a moment of clarity. This happened when he was able to expel Odd, Aelita, and Jeremie from his mind.

What had happened to him? He walked around like his head was in a fog. He had become the laughingstock of so many classmates, his vague answers making him sound and appear stupid. As well as insulting, this blurry headedness was worrying. Why couldn't he think straight? Was he going crazy, was he losing his mind? What was happening to him?

He was snapped out of his moment of clarity by the arrival of Jeremie. He turned to them.

"What… am I…doing… here" He asked.

"Go in the scanner," Jeremie ordered.

Go in the scanner? Ulrich blinked, confused, and slowly turned to obey his order.

Once in, the scanner closed behind him.

.

Yumi watched Jeremie worked on Ulrich. She couldn't wait for Ulrich to be back, though she knew, deep in her heart, that the gap that had appeared in their romantic life was not due to the chip. Ulrich looked for romance to help him get away from his responsibilities. Yumi looked for romance to focus on hers, to direct her thoughts toward the important things in life. They had become too different.

"Done," Jeremie said, smiling.

"It was that easy?" He couldn't have been working on it more than a few minutes.

Jeremie snorted disdainfully. "It's **Aelita's** work, what did you expect, quality?"

Yumi smirked, then rushed down to find Ulrich unconscious.

She brought him back up.

"Don't worry," Jeremie said quietly. "This is expected, he'll be up soon."

.

Ulrich opened his eyes blearily.

"Where am I?" He asked.

Then, the memories came back.

Odd and Aelita's malicious laughter as they confessed everything. His threats. Waking up with that… that thing in his head, making his thoughts blurry. Watch them pound, mercilessly on Jeremie. Having Jeremie ask him why they were doing it. Having him plead and beg Ulrich to stop them. Watching his tearstained face as he finally realized that Ulrich was **not** going to help him, that Ulrich didn't care. Sitting, staring at nothing, for hours on end. Listening to Odd and Aelita's mockings and teasings.

Ulrich looked at Jeremie.

"Jeremie," he whispered. "I'm sorry. I… I tried to stop them, but they did something… they put a virus thing in my head. I'm so sorry, I swear, I never wanted them to hurt you. I-"

"Shah," Jeremie whispered. "It's fine. I know. Don't worry. They're going to pay for it."

Ulrich sat up. "Yeah they are," he growled. "I'll beat the tar out of them. I'll-"

"Ulrich," Yumi whispered. "We've already got it under control." She looked apologetic. "Sorry we didn't include you, but we couldn't, we couldn't have them know-"

"It's fine," he said. "Where are they now?"

.

Yumi, Ulrich, and Jeremie walked back to where Odd and Aelita were. Jeremie had reduced the temperature while they were walking to 29°.

When the couple saw the three of them, Ulrich leaning on Yumi's shoulder, they both began to scream excuses, their breath fogging up the air.

"Jeremie!" Aelita called. "Please don't do this. I never meant to hurt you! Odd made me! He-he told me things that weren't true! He promised that you wouldn't mind, that you didn't care!"

"Yumi, Jeremie, Ulrich!" Odd yelled. "You know I never meant any of it! I didn't know! I never knew any of you, she promised you guys didn't care! She never told me what she did to Ulrich, she just said she explained things better to him! How was I supposed to know?"

They yelled for a bit, shivering in the cold, before realizing what each other was saying.

"What do you mean you didn't know?" Aelita shrieked. "You knew everything! How could you not think they would care!"

"What do you mean I told you? It was your idea!"

"YOU convinced me!"

"YOU forced me!"

"YOU wanted to hurt him."

"It was YOUR idea to get the school to hate him!"

"I just wanted to live a little."

"I was fine ignoring him after you were free! YOU wanted to punish him!"

Yumi saw Jeremie's eyes get bigger and bigger as the accusations flew.

Ulrich looked sick to his stomach.

"I don't want to watch this," he whispered.

"You can go," she told him. "It's fine really. Things are going to get worse."

And they did. Jeremie lowered the temperature to 25° after Ulrich left.

It took them a minute to realize, and when they did, they stopped yelling at each other, and at instead yelled at Jeremie and Yumi.

First they insulted the two, in very colorful language.

21°

Then, when they realized that insulting the people who held your lives on a string wasn't very smart, they began to beg and apologize.

"Please, Jeremie. I'm sorry. I-I wasn't thinking, I was-heady from my freedom, I never meant the whole school-I mean, no I never meant. Please, my fingers hurt so bad."

"Come on, guys. Things got out of hand, I hadn't realized how far they had gone… I'm really, really sorry."

Jeremie and Yumi just watched. Yumi glanced nervously at Jeremie. The look on his face was frightening, a mix between loathing, pity, sadism, hatred, glee, disgust, malice, insane happiness, and just the slightest bit of sorrow, for the friends he had lost.

Yumi herself felt nothing but contempt for the two heartless creatures, freezing in front of her. **Now**, they apologize, not because they were sorry, or even felt bad, but because they didn't want punishment.

17°

Jeremie knelt next to Aelita, who was curled in a ball, up against the glass wall, which had been fixed not to fog up.

Her lips were blue, her fingers turning black. Odd was pounding feebly on the glass next to her.

"I did everything for you," he whispered. "Everything. And you tortured me in return. Stop wasting your breath, telling me you 'didn't know' or 'didn't mean to'. I know what you did. I don't, nor will I ever, know why. Some people are born evil, I guess. But, can't you look back on what you did? Can't you look back and admit that, maybe, you're just a little sorry? Can't you admit that crushing someone, physically and mentally is just a **little** mean?"

Jeremie looked at her.

Odd had stopped pounding and was now shivering, his back to Jeremie and Yumi.

Aelita's eyes met Jeremie, and Jeremie saw what he thought was maybe some true remorse.

"Yes," she whispered.

Yumi blinked. "What about Odd?" She asked.

"You two can rot in hell!" Odd shouted weakly.

Yumi shook her head in disgust.

"You're really sorry?" Jeremie asked Aelita.

"Yes," she whispered, her eyes flickering shut, then open.

Yumi lowered the temperature.

13°

"And," Jeremie breathed, so quiet Aelita could barely hear him. "Do you want out?"

"Yes," she whimpered.

"Do you?"

"I do. Please."

"Are you begging?"

"Yes I'm begging. I'm begging with all my heart," she whispered, her voice nearly inaudible.

"Good!" Jeremie hissed. "Now you no how it feels to plead for you life from someone who was your **friend**!" His finger slammed down on the button.

0°

"Now rot in HELL!" He shrieked.

Yumi wrapped an arm around his trembling figure, and watched the final minutes of her old friends, old friends who she wished to hell.

A few minutes later, and it was finished.


	6. Chapter 6, Repercussions and Fallout

**Six**

Ulrich made his way back to Kadic. He felt awful, all the repressed emotions were wildly swarming in his head. He ran into the building to avoid the cold January night temperatures.

As he made his way through the quiet building, he heard crying coming from behind a door. He found the door locked.

Unlocking it, he found himself in a large storage closet. He reached up and flicked a light on. On the floor, crying, was Milly.

She looked awful. Her shirt and skirt were both torn, her face was tearstained, and she had bruises all over.

She jumped up, terrified, when he came in.

"Odd!" She asked, whipping around. When she saw it was Ulrich she dissolved into tears. "I'm fine, I'm fine," she whispered frantically, pulling her ripped clothes around herself, protectively. "Please don't tell him you found me! PLEASE!" She grabbed his hand, begging. "I swear, nothings going on, I didn't tell anyone! Please!"

Ulrich grabbed her clawing hands. "Milly, Milly," he whispered. "I won't tell him anything. What's wrong?"

She blinked. "N-nothing."

"Obviously something's wrong."

She shook her head. "He'll find out! I know what he can do!"

"He won't find anything out, I promise. Did he do this to you?"

Milly looked uncertain. Then she burst into tears. "He told me he'd make me pay if I tried anything. He knows that, ever since Tamiya and I had a falling out, no one listens to me! I can't fight him, he-he-he hurts me. He hits me, he-he tries to…" Her voice faltered, and she grabbed at her ripped clothes. Ulrich had heard enough to put together what he had done.

"He never-never went, you know, 'all the way', but he threatened to. He said he'd come back tonight," Milly's voice rose again, in panic. "He said he'd come back and-and-" she began sobbing. "I don't know what to do! I'm terrified to tell anyone! Aelita knows, she won't stop him! Jeremie can't! You and Yumi don't c-care about what they do! No one else can stand up to them and-and I don't want him to hurt me anymore! I want him to STOP! I want it all to STOP!"

Ulrich felt even more hatred well up in him against the two, and he felt pity for Milly. He looked at the sobbing girl. "Milly," he whispered. "Milly!"

She looked up at him, shaking.

He put an arm on her shoulder. "Don't worry. Don't worry. He'll never touch you again."

.

The two were found in the forest, just outside the school. The police said that if they had just gone a little further, they'd have made it back. They said that the temperatures dropped far below freezing, and advised the students to stay out of the forest, and, when venturing out, always to wear warm enough clothes. If the two had, maybe they would be alive now.

Yumi exchanged a glance with Jeremie. He smiled back. Everyone assumed that it had been an accident, that Aelita and Odd had gone out to the forest and gotten lost.

Yumi, Jeremie, and Ulrich listened to Principal Delmas go on and on about how much they would be missed.

"Speak for yourself," Ulrich grumbled. A row ahead Milly looked back at Ulrich, a questioning, but thankful look in her eyes. He smiled at her, a held a finger up to his lips. "Talk to you after," he mouthed. Then he turned to Jeremie. "Is this over, then?"

Jeremie shook his head. "Not quite. Apparently, Odd went even further in breaking the rules."

Yumi nodded. "Apparently, he went as far as faking her birth certificate, so that everyone would think they were cousins."

"Messed up cousins," Ulrich snorted. "I mean, they weren't exactly subtle about their relationship."

"Yeah," said Yumi, "they also got the whole school to take out its irritation on someone most people thought they were the friends of. The two weren't exactly popular. Quite the opposite. I wouldn't be surprised if Jeremie wasn't the only one they picked on."

Ulrich thought of Milly. "I'll bet you're right. But can't they trace things back to you, Jeremie? As soon as Odd's parents show up, they'll point out that Aelita is **not** their niece, and then all chaos will ensue."

"I transferred all the data involving her fake birth certificate, citizenship, parents consent, ect. to her computer. They'll find everything there. I've also gotten rid of everything about Lyoko on her computer and laptop. There wasn't much, actually, about Lyoko. All that's there are her site history and lots of, um, pictures." He gave a delicate shudder.

"Um, ick," said Yumi, putting together what he was talking about.

Ulrich shook his head. "Monsters."

"I leave you with these parting words," Delmas said. "Though Odd and Aelita may no longer be with us physically, they will always be in our hearts."

"They will?" Yumi asked, in mock incredulousness. "Get them out, get them out!"

Ulrich and Jeremie snickered quietly.

.

"I'm so sorry, Mr. and Mrs. Della Robbia. I feel so sorry about the passing of your son and niece."

Ulrich watched Principal Delmas console Odd's parents. If there was anyone he felt bad for about this whole thing, it was Odd's family, who would never know what had happened, and probably loved their son unconditionally, no matter how many lives he ruined.

"I'm sorry, our niece?" Mrs. Della Robbia's voice quavered.

"Aelita Stones. The police don't suspect foul play, just that they had gotten lost."

She nodded, tearfully. "But, I don't understand. Who is Aelita Stones?"

And so it began. The inquiries, the investigations. The truth, the one planted by Yumi and Jeremie not the real one, was soon uncovered. No one knew what to make of it. Most people who didn't know Aelita and Odd (the teachers) thought it was a shame that two children could die and all anyone cared about was the legal problems. Most of those who did know Odd and Aelita didn't really care. All you'd hear from them was, "So **that's** why they dated." His family, both parents and all his grieving sisters were just in mourning, none really cared about his legal problems.

Ulrich sighed, watching Jeremie and Yumi talk softly to each other. He didn't really feel left out now that they were more interested in each other, but he did wish that he was still in a relationship. Not with Yumi, he had realized that that wouldn't work. He needed someone fun and spirited that could ramble on about nothing with him for hours. Someone who could talk movies and sports and school life. That's what he needed in a relationship, not dead serious talk about endless responsibility. He needed to get away from that.

"Hey guys, I've got homework to do," he called to them.

"'Kay," Jeremie called. Ulrich smiled, Jeremie looked so much happier now, though he knew that something had changed, that nothing would be the same.

As Ulrich walked through the dorm hallways, he ran into Sissi.

"Sorry!" She said. "I wasn't looking where I was going. Oh, hey Ulrich," she said coolly.

He frowned. "Just, hey Ulrich. No Ulrich dear."

She drew in a breath. "You may be cute, but you're a jerk. Maybe I never had the guts to stand up to Odd and Aelita, but I always called people away if they were hurting him. I **never** just stood by stupidly. And, yes, I'm really sorry about Odd and Aelita. I am. But I've lost any respect I've had for you."

Ulrich blinked. "Since when have you cared about people being mean? You may not believe it, but I had a reason for not stepping in. But really, you're one to talk."

Sissi sighed. Then she blushed. "I'm sorry," she said, quietly. "I-I, well, to tell you the truth, I'm only mean to people I know can take it. I know, it sounds stupid, but my jabs were, maybe harmful, but not cruel. I knew you guys had friends that you could fall back on, and I was so jealous it made my teeth hurt. And I'm sorry, I was judgmental. I figured you'd help if your friend was in danger."

Ulrich sighed, tired. "It's nothing I can explain. But, now that I think of it, you're right. You've only ever helped. Why?

She sighed. "It's nothing I could explain quickly."

He shrugged. "I have time. Anything to get my mind off things."

She paused, looking around the hall. "Can you come in my room? I don't like talking in the open."

He shrugged. "Sure."

She held open her door, and he followed her in.

**Sorry this chapter is short. The next one might be to, depending on how much I have to say.**


	7. Chapter 7, Sissi's Story

**Seven**

Sissi sighed, sitting on her bed, Ulrich across from her.

"Do you know why people call me Sissi, why I'm always so insistent for people to call me that?"

Ulrich shook his head. Honestly, he had never given it any though.

Sissi launched into her story.

"When I was six, a week before I started first grade, my parents and I were shopping for school supplies." She sighed. "It was the last year we ever did it together. My mother helped me pick out the perfect backpack. Pink with purple sparkles, everything was perfect.

"Then, on the way home, everything turned wrong. In one moment, one idiot running a light, my whole life changed." Sissi blinked, and Ulrich thought he saw tears in her eyes. "At first, I was terrified, trapped underneath the car. Then I heard my parents call for help, and-and-and I thought that they were alright. I was, only a few scrapes. So I called for help, and soon I was brought to a hospital. I thought everything would be alright, I was even thinking about how I could brag about this at school, people would think it was cool that I was in a car crash. Then, my daddy came in. He told me that mom wanted to see me." Now Ulrich was sure he saw tears. "I went to her, and she told me-she said-she told me that the doctors didn't think she would make it. She told me that I was special, that I was going to make friends, that I was going to be a shooting star. She told me to be myself, and my life would be as full and happy as hers…"

Sissi was quiet for a moment. Then she shook her head and continued. "I started school after that, and I told myself that I would be bright and nice and cheerful and perky, and that I would get lots of friends and make my mother proud." She smiled at Ulrich. "Now, even though you know me as gorgeous Sissi, at the time I was taller than all my class mates and skinny as a beanpole. I tried to be nice, but instead they teased me. They picked on me, and I would get so frustrated that I'd cry, so they started calling me Sissi. Throughout all of elementary school, I'd be picked on and teased. All I wanted were friends. Instead, everyone thought I was a loser. Occasionally, I'd befriend some new students, but as soon as they adjusted, they'd dump me."

She looked up at Ulrich. "Can you imagine what that'd be like? I had just lost my mother in the most random and unexpected way, and they decided that because I acted like I did, and looked like I did, that I was just some freak.

"When I started middle school, I realized that my father being the principal gave me power. So, I changed my name. Elisabeth was the awkward, too tall girl in third grade, being bumped to spill her lunch down her shirt. I tried to make the old insult, Sissi, a badge of pride. And I was through being nice. Being nice just made you seem weak. I tried a different approach to being popular. I was arrogant and snooty. And at first, it seemed to work. People would be nice to me, no one teased me, and my looks improved, so that the boys would stare at me.

"Then, in seventh grade, you showed up. You were everything for me. You were the boy I dreamed would come and take me away from my miserable school life, you would come and befriend me, and we'd hang out, and all the girls would be jealous and wonder 'why'd he chose her? She's a freak', but we'd just laugh at their jealousy… It was what I'd hoped would happen. So I turned everything on. I was persistent and bright and perky. I complimented, I hung out, hoping you'd notice me. I always did everything to my looks. I tried to let you know my feelings through my words, through my actions… I tried everything. And what did I get? 'Oh that's Sissi, she's a complete turkey. Sissi? She's not the sharpest crayon in the box. Sissi's the most stuck-up conceited girl on Earth. Sissi, dear, why don't you go someplace far away? Sissi's clingy. Sissi's shallow. Sissi's a brat.' "

She sucked in a breath of frustration. "Like you were a genius! Like you always discussed deep, important things! Like leaving you alone would make you want me! Then you befriended Jeremie and Odd and Yumi, and your life was perfect. And yet, I felt that I was _that_ close to being in your group, like in some dream I had been. You guys had everything! Close friends, romance, a secret that you knew was yours… I was stuck, staring enviously, hoping that someday, you'd say, 'Why don't you hang out with us Sissi?' But as time went by, I realized how hopeless my ideals were. Nine years had passed since first grade, and I'd made no friends. So I started being mean. I started trying to foil you, to find out your secret."

Sissi threw her arms up, and stared intently out the window, so Ulrich couldn't see the tears that were obvious in her voice. "Has there ever been someone that you wanted, so badly, but you knew would never care for you? If my life was a movie, you'd fall for me, and we'd go out and all the girls who wanted you would be jealous, and wish they had never been mean and petty…" Sissi trailed off. "I guess I sorta painted myself as the bad guy, huh?" She sighed, looking down at her hands.

Ulrich was silent. He had never thought about Sissi as anyone but the annoying girl who followed him around. To be honest, he never even spared a moment to think how it felt for her to be constantly rejected by someone she pined after. He looked up at her.

"I-I'm sorry. Our secret is just too important to trust in other hands. In the hands of people we can't trust."

Sissi looked up at him. "People you can trust, huh? People who push you down staircases and send you to the hospital with broken ribs and concussions?"

Ulrich frowned. "They never did that!"

"They didn't? Maybe you were so wrapped up in your own problems that you didn't notice, but my father runs this school, and he knows what happened. Jeremie went to the hospital three times in the last month, and was in the infirmary many times more. He never told my father how, he said things like falling down a staircase, which was partially the truth…"

Ulrich grimaced. "They're lucky they're dead!" He hissed to himself.

Sissi looked at him, an eyebrow raised, though she didn't say anything.

Ulrich looked up at her. "Well, instead of relaxing my mind from things, I got to add one more thing to my guilty conscience. Thanks."

"Well, you asked. Do you want me to ramble on about stupid things? I've been accused too many times from you for being shallow, but sometimes it's nice to not always discuss important things."

"Don't I know it," Ulrich mumbled. They were quiet for a minute.

Sissi watched Ulrich for a moment. "Why don't you talk to your friends? They could get your mind off things."

He snorted. "Who? Genius and brilliant Jeremie, or serious thoughtful Yumi?"

"Are they-" Sissi blinked. She had seen Jeremie and Yumi hanging out a lot, but she hadn't put the connection together… "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. We both fell apart."

They were quiet, the elephant in the room going unaddressed. Both minds were racing.

Ulrich looked at Sissi. He remembered the times where they had been forced to let her in. Often she had proved useful, once successfully binding Ulrich's arm, pleading their case for her father… The truth was, Sissi could have actually been a really good friend, if it hadn't been for…

Ulrich had to ask why.

"Sissi, say you were in a position where your friends had a big secret, one that could destroy the world. They kept it at bay, because if they shut down the threat, they'd also shut down a friend. Now, what if there was a dangerous situation. There lives were in danger. Would you tell the authorities, or would you try to help them out on your own."

Sissi was quiet for a long while. "Well," she said finally, "I suppose I'd tell the authorities."

Ulrich let out a disappointed sigh. He knew she'd say that, he'd already seen first hand what she would do.

"I know that there friend's life depended on it, but I wouldn't want to lose my friends."

"You'd lose them alright," Ulrich said. "They'd never trust you after you betrayed them."

"Betrayed them? I was saving their lives! I know they wouldn't trust me, but like I said, I'd do anything for my friends. Anything. That includes reporting them if I think their in danger."

Ulrich had a thought.

"Well, what if the danger was still there, but they couldn't shut it down. They were the only ones fighting it. And they were the only ones who knew how to fight it. Then what would you do?"

More silence. "Well, then I guess I'd help them."

Ulrich felt his heart lighten somewhat. The pressing issue of replacement Lyoko Warriors was always present, and if Sissi joined…

"I have to go," he said quickly. "But I'll be back."

.

"No!"

"But, Jeremie-"

"No! We've already tried her."

"Things are different-"

"Absolutely not! There is no way I'm trusting her again!"

Ulrich threw his hands up, frustrated. He threw an imploring look at Yumi. She sighed.

"Keep trying. He always says no at first. He's just really against the idea of a new member."

Jeremie crossed his arms. "Sissi can't be trusted."

"But things are different. Reporting us would no longer help anyone, she knows that. Besides, if she was lying, then she would have never said she would have reported us initially."

Jeremie shook his head. "Sorry, Ulrich." Jeremie sat back down on his bed. "But there's no way to tell, so-"

He received a gentle thwack on the head from Yumi on this. "That's not true. Tell him about the partial scan."

Jeremie bristled. "There's no reason. Sissi's not joining us!"

"What's a partial scan?"

The two were silent, Yumi glaring at Jeremie. Finally she sighed.

"A partial scan is one that needs to be continually applied in order to avoid losing your memory after a return-trip. The idea is, if we're not sure if we can trust Sissi, we give her a partial scan and don't bring her to Lyoko. We station her on Earth for a few attacks and see how she functions under stress. We see whether she can be trusted, how well she manages, and how loyal she is. If we're satisfied, then we bring her to Lyoko. If she buckles under pressure, we don't rescan her, and the return-trip erases her memory."

Ulrich turned to Jeremie. His friend's stubbornness was, while understandable, frustrating. "Look, she values friendship over anything. She even stood up for you when no one else did. What else do you want?"

Jeremie shook his head. "Too risky, sorry. Try someone else."

Ulrich sighed. So much had changed since Aelita and Odd showed their true colors. Ulrich barely knew what to say.

"Talk to him," he whispered to Yumi. "Please."

Yumi sighed. "Jeremie…" She wheedled.

Jeremie shook his head. "Yumi… Don't be like that," he whispered.

"You know you're not going to find someone else."

"I don't care. We can stop X.A.N.A by ourselves."

"Now you're just being stupid. You _know_ we can't. You're just being stubborn."

Jeremie sent Yumi pleading eyes.

She knelt down to meet his eyes. "Would I let someone who would hurt you in?"

Ulrich suddenly felt unwanted and out of place. The intimacy between the two was stronger than what he had ever felt with Yumi. Even without strong words, her fierce protectiveness, and his loyalty and trusting conveyed what words didn't.

They held each other's eyes for a minute, before Jeremie looked at Ulrich.

"Alright," he whispered.

.

**Hmm, well I'm sure you found that boring. But I felt it deserved a chapter. Besides, the story _is_ coming to an end.**

**Anyway, interesting stat: of the 393 individual visitors to the story, 11 have reviewed (the other 12 reviews are from repeated reviewers, 2 being from a flamer). So a 393:11 ratio. Really it's not that hard to review, but 382 people didn't. Just thought that was interesting. (And I'm not really complaining, I just wanted to bring it up.)**

**Also a big shout out to The Sealer, rori-war-world, Trainalf, and obsessivefanno.4, my incredible repeating reviewers! Thank you! (No thanks to my repeated flamer rkofan1, who thinks that Odd and Aelita were in the right and that Jeremie is 'no good' :(**


	8. Chapter 8, Inductions

**Eight**

**Alright, this chapter will induct the new Lyoko Warrior. Some people thought they'd choose William, but, there wouldn't really be any reason for them to. William had only just recently attending Kadic. Yumi's seclusion would give William no desire to pursue her, and if he did, then it would assure that Jeremie never let him in the group. With that little AN, on with the show!**

Sissi walked down the halls, deep in thought, when she nearly ran into Ulrich. Stepping back, she blushed. "Deja vu all over again," she said.

He blinked. "Sorry, I was in a rush to-to see you, actually. Remember how I told you I had a few things to discuss?"

Sissi shook her head, an eyebrow cocked. "You seem excited though. What's up?"

Ulrich took a deep breath. "Your turn to come in my room. This is definitely not something I want to discuss in the open."

.

Ulrich studied the expression on Sissi's face, carefully. She seemed to be, at least considering believing him.

"So, you're saying, the big secret you've been hiding, is a virtual world and an evil AI? And that I snitched on you, so you kicked me out, and Aelita…" Sissi trailed off. "They killed her?"

Ulrich tensed slightly. He knew this would be the hardest part, getting Sissi to understand Jeremie and Yumi's thirst for revenge.

"Yeah." He chose to keep it simple. If he went on and on, it'd sound like he was justifying murder and even if he **did **feel that they were justified, he wanted Sissi's true opinion. He wanted to know what she truly thought, whether she could ever find their actions reasonable, or if she would condemn them.

Sissi seemed to choose her words carefully. "When did they expect to remove the virus from you?"

Ulrich frowned. "According to Jeremie, it was a long term virus. That's not to say that they meant to keep it in forever, but it does mean it could've lasted forever."

Sissi nodded. "I suppose… Well, I would never kill anyone, but… it seems like it was deserving, as well as almost necessary. If they had no intention of removing the virus, than it meant they were okay with disabling you for life, all for protecting your friend, and…" She shook her head. "It just seemed like no big deal to them. The torments, everything. They seemed really, well, almost evil. Again, they would hurt you, make you lose your mind, all so they could torture their friend." Sissi bit her lip. Then she shook the unhappy thoughts from her mind. "I don't like talking about that," she said briskly. "I understand why they did it, but I'd rather not dwell on it. So, why are you telling me this now? Are you going to let me in?"

Ulrich smiled at her bluntness. "Yes, we are." Jeremie, being paranoid, had told Ulrich not to tell her about the temporality of her situation. He seemed to think that knowing her position was temporary would make her act perfect for the first few attacks, until she was fully scanned, after which she'd report them.

Sissi's eyes lit up. She looked at Ulrich, blinking slightly. "R-really," she whispered.

"Really," he said back. "Now, come one. We have to get you scanned."

.

Sissi followed Ulrich, in a slight daze. This felt all surreal to her. An hour ago, time travel and virtual worlds were fantasy.

Now…

She shook her head, to clear it.

"We're going down in the sewers?"

"Well, yeah. How else do you think we get around without people following?"

Sissi blushed. "I'm sorry, I feel like a moron for following you guys around and making your lives hard, especially considering everything you've done."

"Forget it," Ulrich said. "Really, there's no way you could've known."

They entered the sewers. Sissi's nose wrinkled slightly. "Ick! How do you stand this?'

He laughed as they walked through. "You get used to it. Jeremie's swam in this stuff a few times, and I've done it once."

"Ew, is that some kind of initiation?"

"Nope, basic survival. When a murderous swarm of wasps are after you, the sewer water looks pretty tempting."

They walked, as the skateboards and scooter had been removed from the sewers until the investigations stopped.

As they walked, Ulrich tossed a look at Sissi, surprised to find a wide smile on her face. "You find the idea of swimming in sewer water fun?"

"No. I'm just excited about doing all the things I never thought I'd ever do. The way you talk so casually about your adventures! I don't know, it's exciting. When do I get to go to Lyoko?"

"In a little while. Jeremie still has to run a few programs first, so you'll be on Earth patrol for now." Jeremie had instilled the excuse deep into Ulrich's head. "Give him a few weeks. Also, I should warn you, his experience with Odd and Aelita has deeply shaken him. He's really against a new Lyoko Warrior, so try not to, you know-"

"Yeah, watch what I say, give him no reason to dislike me."

"But be yourself. If he thinks you're acting, he'll distrust you."

They had reached the ladder at the end of the sewers.

"Ladies first," he said.

Sissi climbed quickly up the ladder. She looked at the old factory. "This is where your Lyoko is? In this dump?"

Ulrich grinned. "There's a lot more to this dump then meets the eye."

Ulrich led her to the ropes, which she swung down gracefully. Sissi entered the elevator.

"We're disabling the code lock on the elevator until you get used to coming here, 'kay?"

The elevator rumbled, and lurched downward. Sissi tensed up.

Soon the door opened. Sissi couldn't believe her eyes. "Wow!" She breathed, staring at the high-tech room. She looked at the console, at which Jeremie sat.

He tensed up at her entry. Sissi could see that he was not on board with her being in the group.

Yumi walked over. "Sissi," she said. "I hope we can leave our past enmity behind us."

"Well, I should hope so, if I'm going to be part of your group. Besides," she said, "Ulrich's not between us anymore, so we should be able to move past him."

Yumi smiled, and Sissi got the impression that Yumi was more on board with her joining the group.

"Go to the scanners," Jeremie's cold voice sliced through the air. "Ulrich, take her there."

He rolled his eyes. "Come on, Sissi." He led her back to the elevator.

"Why'd we waste our time here, if we're just going back down, anyway?"

"Well, we could sit in the scanner room for a few hours, but it wouldn't do us any good until we let our presence known."

"Oh, right."

The doors opened to reveal the scanner room, and again, Sissi was struck with the awe of the room.

"Do I go in this?" Sissi stepped over to one of the open scanners.

Ulrich nodded, and Sissi stepped in.

It began to slide shut, and Sissi suddenly felt a little freaked out, until she lost consciousness.

.

"Hey, Jeremie, do you mind if I go and see how she if?" Yumi asked. Sissi had seemed nervous, and Yumi really wanted to put things behind them. If Sissi was going to be a new Lyoko Warrior, then Yumi wanted to try to patch things up between the two of them.

She entered the scanner room, just as the process ended. The scanner opened, and Sissi fell out. Ulrich caught her, and she just slumped in his arms, panting for a moment.

"You okay?" Yumi asked.

"Fine," Sissi panted. "Just, wow, that took a bit out of me."

.

Later, as the three walked back to the school, Ulrich told Sissi tales of their previous fights with X.A.N.A.

Ulrich saw Sissi's smile fade slightly, as he retold a story where he and Sissi were trapped in the elevator, which was quickly filling up with water.

"What's up?" He asked.

"It's weird, you know, the idea that this happened, that you broke your arm, and we nearly died in the elevator. It's just bizarre! I mean, that that actually happened."

"What's so weird about it?"

"I don't remember a thing of it! I mean, the idea of this memory erasing type thing is almost creepy! Think about it, something really strange could have happened while we were walking back, but our memories were erased, so we don't know about it. This is just crazy!"

Ulrich shuddered. "I know. Aelita and Odd put a virus in my head, making me forget things. I hate the idea of it."

"Me too," Sissi said.

Yumi laughed. "Another thing you two have in common? A hate of memory altercations?"

Both shivered, and Yumi laughed.

They entered the school yard. The students were filing into the cafeteria for dinner.

Then Yumi stopped. "Oh shoot! I forgot my phone at the factory!" She glanced around. "I'll be right back, you guys go on ahead."

.

Milly watched Yumi run off. Deciding against another lonely meal alone, she decided to follow Yumi. She had just seen Ulrich and Sissi enter the cafeteria together, and Milly was wondering why Sissi would choose now of all times, to try and pull a nasty stunt.

But rather than ask them, and get teased by Sissi, Milly ran after Yumi.

Yumi disappeared into the sewers. Milly waited fifteen seconds, before following. Keeping her distance Milly stalked Yumi, wondering why she was hanging out in the sewers.

Milly followed for a while, until she saw Yumi climb out. Milly had no idea where they would come out, so she decided to stay close.

She climbed out and watched Yumi head into a large building. In the winter evening light, it looked abandoned.

Milly followed her in. She saw Yumi slide down a rope, and then enter an elevator.

Milly, again, counted to fifteen, before calling the elevator.

.

Yumi stepped out. "Hey Jeremie," she said. "Forgot my phone. You sure you don't want me to stay?"

Behind her, the elevator door closed and moved upward, but Yumi didn't notice.

.

Milly took a deep breath as the elevator reached her level. She stepped inside, and hit the down button.

Closing her eyes, and crossing her fingers, Milly held her breath as the elevator lurched downward. Milly had accidently set the elevator to reach the scanner room.

Milly stepped out of the elevator, and found herself in a room occupied by three, tall cylinders. There was no Yumi.

.

Meanwhile, Jeremie was talking to Yumi. "I'm just not comfortable keeping the elevator unlocked."

She nodded. "I have an idea. We make the elevator code 1234. Enough to deter any intruders, but simple enough that Sissi would remember."

Jeremie frowned. Then he sighed, "Alright. Good plan. I'll set that up now."

Yumi pocketed her phone. "I'll test it on the way up."

Yumi called the elevator and stepped in. She typed the code and the elevator went back up.

.

Back down Milly was examining one of the scanners when she heard the elevator closed. She jumped at the sound. _Don't worry, you can call I back,_ she told herself.

Milly ran over and called the elevator. A few seconds later, it arrived. Milly hopped in and hit the up button.

Nothing happened.

She tried a few more times with no result. "Come on, come on!" She hissed, hitting the button. No result.

Milly took a deep breath. No point in panicking, it wasn't going to help her.

She looked around the scanner room, and saw a trapdoor on the ceiling.

Unfortunately, Jeremie and Ulrich had fixed the ladder so that it was retractable, and the ladder was now up in the lab.

Milly looked around for another escape. She found a compartment in the ground, that opened to reveal the level below, but it was much too far down for her to jump.

After a few more minutes of searching, Milly realized that she was trapped.

.

Jeremie was working, hours later, when he thought he heard crying. He was quiet, and figured it was just his imagination.

But, no, there it was again.

Jeremie frowned, irritated.

What right did Aelita have to come and haunt him after all this.

Jeremie shook the ridiculous idea from his head, and dismissed again, as imagination. Then he heard it again.

Yumi and Sissi were the only girls who knew about Lyoko, and he hadn't heard the elevator since Yumi left.

Which meant that this must be Yumi. But Yumi wasn't the type to cry. Unless she was hurt.

Jeremie felt a tightening of dread in his stomach. What if his super scan was broken, and X.A.N.A. had virtualized something in the scanner room and it attacked her? He decided run a few tests on the scanners.

Each scanner opened and began running various tests, to see what programs had been recently run on them.

One scanner repeated materialization programs, the next virtualization programs, and the last modifier programs.

Jeremie sat, waiting. He jumped out of his seat when he felt his phone vibrate.

"Who is it?" He hissed into his phone.

"Jeremie?" Yumi's voice came over the other end. "Jeremie, it's three in the morning! You're working too hard, you told me you'd take it easy."

Jeremie breathed a sigh of relief as Yumi continued. "The last thing I need is for you to work yourself into insanity. Come to the school, now."

"Y-you're right Yumi," Jeremie said, shakily. "I've been hearing things, I could probably do with a good night sleep."

Jeremie hung up and headed out of the lab, and into the night.

.

Down below, Milly, who had been crying, curled up in the scanner, gave a small gasp of surprise as the scanner closed around her.

**Wow, that didn't come out well at all! Blech! Sorry about this. Anyway, I know that the choice for the final Lyoko Warrior is a bit out there, but I wanted to make things different, and there aren't that many fics with her as a Lyoko Warrior… So, tell me what you think! Review!**


	9. Chapter 9, Final Choice

**Nine**

Jeremie made his way back to the school. In the dark, everything made him jump, every bird, every gust of wind.

He felt convinced that someone was following him, but every time he stopped walking, the world grew silent.

Still, he couldn't help but shake the feeling that there was someone behind him, even if, when he whipped around, there were no new tracks in the snow.

Jeremie shivered, wishing he had brought his coat.

The school soon came into sight, and Jeremie took off running. He entered the dorm building, shaking off the cold.

As he made his way through the halls his thoughts were interrupted by a cough behind him.

Jeremie whirled around to find himself face to face with one of his old, main tormenters.

"Belpois," he said, smirking. "I don't know why the rest of the school seems to think your off the hook, but I don't." He stepped forward, and grabbed Jeremie by the scruff of his shirt.

Jeremie fell limp, like a ragdoll, but his eyes met the older boy's.

He smirked. "And don't bother crying to Stern or Ishyama, cause if you do, I'll kill you."

Jeremie smiled icily. "The last people who tormented me were recently found frozen to death in the forest. If you think that was an accident, by all means, continue down this path. But if you have half a brain, which I doubt, I would consider putting me down. Now."

The older boy's eyes seemed to register that there might be an inkling of truth to this statement.

"Right," he snorted, "like you had the guts to kill them. Besides, you can't freeze someone to death."

"Can't you?" Jeremie inquired, mildly, his eyes burning holes into his assailant.

"No," he returned, though he seemed unsure of himself, Jeremie's altered reaction unsettled him. "You can't. Now I'm gonna enjoy knocking you into tomorrow."

Jeremie's hand, which hand slipped into his pocket, moved quickly and efficiently, driving the knife Yumi had made him promise to carry into his assailant's abdomen.

He crumpled to the ground, groaning.

Jeremie pulled out his phone, and dialed 911. The hit wasn't fatal, but he needed to make sure things weren't traced back.

"Hello! 911!" He said in a worried, panicked voice. "Someone's hurt! I think he was stabbed. … I-I don't know by who, I was just in the hall when I saw two people outside and-and one of them st-stabbed the other! Oh, God, please send an ambulance quick! … Kadic Academy… He's inside, he was able to pull himself in, but-but, oh p-p-please just hurry!" He snapped his phone shut, and leaned down to whisper in the hurt boy's ear.

"You were out late, you were going through the forest. Right outside the school some drunken person stopped you. You got in a confrontation. He stabbed you. You pulled yourself back to the school. You couldn't make out his face, or anything about him, because it was dark. I called for help. Stick to it. And don't bother crying to the police, cause if you do, I'll kill you." His eyes were cold and pitiless. "If you think freezing someone to death is impossible, you'd freak if you knew what I was capable of."

Jeremie straightened up as he heard sirens in the distance.

He ran out to meet them, giving the paramedics directions.

"Sir," he said, to one of the paramedics at the truck, "c-can you please keep my in-involvement anonymous? I-I don't want anyone knowing it was m-me."

The man nodded, and told him he'd done the right thing, but he should go to bed now.

Jeremie slunk in, using a roundabout way, as to avoid the teachers who were running to investigate.

Once in his room, he called Yumi.

"Hey," she said, "what's up? Sorry I didn't wait at the school for you, but my parents wanted me home ASAP."

"Well, things would have been… cleaner, if you had stayed." He gave Yumi a brief recollection of his altercation in the hall.

He could hear the worry in her voice, as she said, "Jeremie, I don't like it. What if this happens again?"

"Then I'll come up with more excuses. I'm good at acting, and I can change any investigation to exonerate myself if I ever come up as a suspect."

"True, true. But what if one of them hurts you?"

"It shouldn't happen. Yumi, I really have to get to bed. Good night."

"Good night," she echoed.

.

The next morning, Sissi and Ulrich approached Yumi and Jeremie.

"So," said Sissi, as they sat down to breakfast, "I'm guessing what happened last night had something to do with you?"

Yumi frowned. "What do you know about last night? I thought the students weren't filled in on things."

"There are perks to being the principal's daughter. So, what? Are you gonna spill, or are we gonna have to wrestle it out of you?"

Jeremie smiled, and quickly and quietly filled his friends in.

"Well," said Ulrich, "he had it coming."

"Yeah," Sissi agreed. "How else are people supposed to know not to bug you?"

Suddenly Jeremie's laptop beeped, signaling a X.A.N.A. attack. His eyes flicked off the computer screen to meet Sissi's.

"Ready for your first assignment?"

.

In the factory, Sissi knew that Yumi and Ulrich were being virtualized. Despite the fact that she _knew_ they did this many times, she couldn't shake the remembrance that last time it had just been the two of them, they had nearly died.

And that was before X.A.N.A. knew Yumi had the key.

Still, Sissi braced herself. She wasn't going to do anyone any good if she panicked. She wondered what X.A.N.A. was planning.

She didn't have to wait long. Soon she heard what sounded like laser fire.

Screaming started from the students near the forest, and Sissi soon saw ugly cockroach-like robot-things come from the forest.

According to the pictures Ulrich had shown her, they were the kankralet things.

"Everyone!" She called to the panicking students. "Get inside the school! Get inside!"

Sissi looked around for something to fight with. A stray shot had knocked a piece of piping off the wall. Sissi grabbed it, and then, ignoring the fact that she was rushing _toward_ what everyone else was running _away_ from, Sissi made her way toward them.

She saw Tamiya get hit by a laser, and fall to the ground clutching her arm.

_Alright Sissi_ she told herself _their hits aren't lethal, but they can be, and you have to protect the students._

"Hi-ya!" She cried, jamming the long pipe into its eye-of-X.A.N.A.

The monster went down, and Sissi helped Tamiya to her feet.

"Run to the building, stay away from the windows, don't look back, run serpentine," she instructed the younger student.

Tamiya nodded, and ran back to the school.

Sissi turned to face the kankralets. Taking a shaky breath, she launched herself at the nearest, destroying it.

She quickly took out another, before they realized that she was an enemy.

They froze, before turning to face her.

Sissi's eyes widened, as she backed away slowly.

There were about twenty.

Fighting the urge to run to the school, Sissi instead, ran toward the monsters.

Zigzagging, she thrust her makeshift weapon into one's head, before turning to another.

She was able to take out three more on adrenaline rush, before her luck began to run out.

She felt a hit on her right leg. Knowing if she slowed, or in any way weakened her attack, they would move in for the kill. So she kept up her dodging and weaving dance, despite her leg screaming in protest.

_I hope they hurry up._

.

On Lyoko Ulrich was faced with two tarantulas. Yumi was behind a rock, conserving her lifepoints. X.A.N.A. seemed to have gotten the memo that Yumi had the key, as he was focusing his monsters on fighting her.

Jeremie was busy ferrying the kankralets that streamed out of the scanner. He was aware that they would head toward the school if they were released from the factory, but he didn't have much of a choice. If they stayed in the factory, they'd destroy the scanners, or the supercomputer.

Ulrich took out one tarantula, and triplicated to take out the other, but his lifepoints were dwindling.

Yumi threw a fan at the new assailants, three bloks. Jeremie had instructed she only use one fan for throwing, and the other for blocking.

Her fan took out one, but then got embedded in the dessert sector floor.

The blok shot an icebolt, freezing Yumi's feet to the ground for two minutes. She blocked the shots best she could with her fan, but she could tell she'd be overwhelmed soon.

Ulrich leaped in front of her, blocking several shots, before supersprinting and taking one out, just in time to be devirtualized by a fire ring shot by the remaining blok.

It then turned to Yumi, and with three, rapidly fired shots, blasted her fan out of her hand.

Yumi's telekinesis moved a rock in front of her, protecting her, for the time, but it wouldn't be soon before the blok blasted through her defenses, and Yumi only had thirty lifepoints, not enough to leap out and grab her fan. If she was shot one more time, it was game over.

"Yumi," Jeremie's voice called out, "what are you going to do?"

Yumi, crouched behind the rock shook her head. "I don't know. Any way you can bring Sissi here?"

"I can call her, but it would take too long."

"I'll tell her to come," Ulrich said. "I've got to head out to help her anyway."

"Hurry!" Yumi said, though she knew it would be too late.

Then, she heard what sounded like… singing?

At first Yumi's heart lurched, the sound reminded her of Aelita's creativity, but no. This sound was almost… birdlike.

Like a bird song.

"Yumi?" Jeremie's confused voice rang out. "What's going on? Your lifepoints are… regenerating! You have eighty lifepoints now. Yumi?"

Yumi quickly leapt out from behind her rock, and grabbed her fan. She was hit once, reducing her lifepoints to fifty, a shot that, a second ago, would have been fatal.

Her fan sliced through the air, and the blok was destroyed.

Yumi looked up, panting slightly.

A solitary figure was kneeling on the ground, a little ways off.

At first, all Yumi saw were the bright hair and outfit, and green eyes.

Yumi gasped, and the figure looked up at her. Then Yumi realized that her hair and outfit were red, not pink.

Slowly, she got up and walked tentatively toward Yumi.

"Yumi?"

Yumi's eyes widened. "M-Milly! What are you doing here?" Milly's outfit was fiery red, the skirt ending at her knees. From her wrists, extending to her feet, were two long pieces of cloth, creating wing-like flaps. Milly's hair was down, and orange and yellow flame-like streaks ran through them.

Milly looked around. "I-I-I don't know. I-I'm sorry, I followed you to the old building, and th-then I got stuck, and the cylinder thing closed and-"

"Is that… Milly?" Jeremie's confused voice asked.

"Yeah," Yumi said, "apparently she somehow got virtualized." She looked at Milly. "I take it that was you who gave me my lifepoints back?"

Milly nodded. "I don't know how, it just seemed, I don't know… natural."

Yumi surveyed Milly's outfit. It seemed like a strange cross between fire style, and a bird.

It clicked in her head. "Oh. You're a phoenix. That's why you could do the healing thing."

"Look Yumi, we can quiz Milly later. I just got a call from Sissi, apparently, the kankralets just knocked Ulrich out, the school is about to be broken in, and she's on her last legs. Would you please just deactivate the tower?"

Yumi blinked. "Oh, right, yeah. Right on it, Jeremie."

Yumi ran into the tower, and soon it was deactivated.

"Return to the past, now!"

.

The group met up in the factory. Sissi was excitedly filling Yumi and Ulrich in on how she had beat eleven kankralets.

"Was I ever that enthusiastic?" Yumi wryly asked Jeremie.

He sighed. "I couldn't say. I don't exactly remember what is was like that day, the first return-trip erased my memory."

Jeremie ran down to the scanner room, and came back with a confused, terrified looking Milly.

Sissi paused. "What's she doing here?"

"She was accidently virtualized," Yumi informed her.

"She was?" Ulrich and Sissi said simultaneously.

Jeremie nodded. "Would you mind filling her in?"

As the others did so, Jeremie fired up the virtualization process.

Once they finished, Milly looked at Jeremie, wide eyed. "Is this true? _Can_ this be true?"

Jeremie nodded. "Now, there's one more thing that needs to be attended to." He turned to Sissi. "You conducted yourself very well earlier, and I think it's time you get to go Lyoko."

Ulrich brought Sissi down to the scanner room. "You ready?" He asked her.

She took a deep breath, uncertainty flashing across her face. "Can-can you come with me?"

Ulrich grinned. "Sure," he said, hopping into the scanner next to her. "Hey Jeremie!" He called up. "Send me in too!"

Jeremie hit a few buttons on the screen. "Transfer: Ulrich, transfer: Sissi. Scanner: Ulrich, scanner: Sissi. Virtualization."

On Lyoko, the two figures appeared. Ulrich laughed at the bright, excited look on Sissi's face.

"Welcome to Lyoko."

**Okay! I just realized that the next chapter has a very good chance of being the last. I might write more New Order stories, but this one is looking like it's nearing the end. So, please review!**


	10. Chapter 10, The Rise of the New Order

**Ten**

Yumi sat next to Jeremie, as he worked on his computer. The two spent a lot of time this way, quietly discussing Lyoko, and coming up with better ways of fighting X.A.N.A.

Yumi had a wide variety of ideas, which Jeremie was able to turn into reality with his computer. Jeremie had shown Yumi how to manage basic functions on the supercomputer, namely, virtualizations and return trips.

"Are you gonna stay tonight?" Jeremie asked Yumi, hopefully.

She shook her head. "Sorry, Sissi and Milly are staying over at my place tonight."

Jeremie's face fell, and she saw a slight hardening in his eyes.

"Hey," she said, quietly, kneeling down to look him in the eye. "You know it isn't like I'm abandoning you for them." He looked away, but she held his chin, turning his head back. "You know that, right? You **know** that no one is more important to me, no one."

Jeremie nodded, with a small, sad smile. "I know," he said, quietly.

Yumi nodded, straitening up again. She shook her head. "If you had told me, a few months ago, what our team would look like, and that I would be inviting Sissi and Milly over to my house for a sleepover…"

Yumi didn't understand the others' aversion to helping Jeremie with the computer. It was fascinating, and the more she helped him, the more she began to understand.

She gave him a small hug, before departing.

Milly looked up from her seat as Yumi ran by. "Yumi?"

Yumi paused. "Hmm?"

Milly showed her her work. "See this? I don't really get it."

Yumi scanned over her work, frowning. "Why don't you ask Jeremie? He never minds helping me out when he's working."

Milly nodded, picking up her work and heading to Jeremie's room.

She knocked on his door, before entering. Jeremie looked up, smiling slightly. "Milly. How nice of you to drop by."

"Hey, Jeremie. I was wondering if you wouldn't mind helping me out."

Milly set herself down on Jeremie's floor, while he helped her out with her math and science.

Upstairs, Sissi and Ulrich hung out. Sissi had convinced her father to not give Ulrich a new roommate, so now he got a larger room to himself. The two sat on his bed, close together, discussing a new movie the two had gone to the previous evening.

"So," Ulrich asked, "you have anything planned for this evening."

"Yeah, me and Milly are going over to Yumi's house this evening." She grinned. "I guess there's a first for everything, huh?"

Her phone rang. She held up a finger. "Hmm, yeah… no… but Daddy! … Fine, fine." Sighing, she hung up. "I've gotta go. If I don't finish my homework, I can't go to Yumi's. Ugh!"

Ulrich grinned. "If there's one thing bad about having the principal as a father…"

Sissi shook her mane of raven hair. "I know, I know."

Standing, she gave him a brief kiss, before heading out.

.

That night, the three girls met at Yumi's place. It had been all three girls first get-together since they had started at Kadic, and in Sissi's case, the first ever.

The girls spent all night, chatting, giggling, talking. Yumi had never thought there would be so much to the two girls, they had always seemed so… shallow? It had been a judgmental thought, just because someone didn't have the world on their shoulders, or liked to talk, didn't mean they were stupid. But Yumi had always looked down on people who giggled loudly, or chatted, only now seeing how judgmental she had been.

That night, or really, one thirty that morning, the girls finally decided to hit the sack.

Sissi stared up at the ceiling. This felt so… weird. **So** weird. Like she couldn't wrap her head around it. Still, she had never been happier.

.

4:17am

Milly's eyes blinked open as her phone rang. There was groaning from the other girls as their phones went off too.

Milly just wanted to roll over, and go back to sleep, but when she checked her phone, she felt wide awake.

M.

X.A.N.A.

J.

She heard the others, quietly scrambling to their feet.

Yumi gestured them to follow, as the three girls soundlessly maneuvered from the house.

They quickly made their way through the sewers, Yumi and Sissi skateboarding, Milly on a scooter.

"Do we always go through the sewers?" Milly asked.

Yumi grinned. "No one filled you in on **that** pleasant part of being a Lyoko Warrior? Unfortunately, yeah, this is usually how we get around."

"Well," Sissi said, "if it's any consolation, I'm already getting somewhat used to it."

The three arrived at the factory, and quickly flew down the ropes to the elevator. "1 2 3 4. Just enough to keep people out, but easy enough to remember."

Milly nodded. "I can't believe I didn't even think to try it," she said, as the elevator head down. "Glad I didn't though."

At the lab, Yumi headed over. "What's up, Jeremie?"

He looked up. "X.A.N.A.'s activated a tower in the desert sector. So far, he hasn't gotten the chance to attack Earth. I'm sending you in. Sissi, Milly, remember, protect Yumi, keep X.A.N.A.'s monsters at bay. Sissi, stay defensive. Milly, keep on the offense with Ulrich, but make sure you keep safe enough to use Rebirth, in case Yumi takes too many hits. Yumi, remember-"

"-one fan blocks, one attacks. Stop worrying so much." She lightly kissed him, before heading towards the elevator. Milly shot Yumi an amused look.

The girls took up positions in the scanners.

"Transfer: Yumi, transfer: Sissi, transfer: Milly. Scanner: Yumi, scanner: Sissi, scanner: Milly. Virtualization!"

On the desert sector, the geisha and phoenix dropped next to each other.

Next to them, dropped Sissi. Her outfit was similar to the others, a dress with a short skirt, but Sissi's was snakeskin style, all blacks and green and almost scales, with dark green tights. The sleeves were long and bell like, covering her hands. Two parts of hair were pulled back, and braided down the middle.

Sissi pulled her hands out of sleeves, a small, circular blade between each finger in her gripped fists.

Milly unsheathed her flame talons. Yumi pulled out her fans. Ulrich, who was already there, whipped out his sword.

"Let's do this," he said.

The four ran ahead, Ulrich in lead, Milly and Sissi flanking Yumi.

"One megatank and two tarantulas coming up ahead!" Jeremie called out.

Ulrich and Milly ran ahead.

"Careful. Only Ulrich and Milly can block megatanks."

The two nodded, and Ulrich whipped his sword into position, just as the megatank's laser hit it.

Milly leapt through the air, her wing-like sleeves carrying her through the air in a glide, and landing on a tarantula, talons sinking into its X.A.N.A. eye. Milly leapt into the air, as the tarantula exploded.

Just as the megatank retracted its laser, Sissi flicked her wrist, sending a volley of spinning blades at the megatank. One hit home, and the megatank exploded.

"Three crabs and a swarm of eight hornets coming. Come on, girls. Introduce yourselves to X.A.N.A."

Sissi nodded, smiling. She leapt in the air, releasing another volley at the hornets, as Milly glided on top of a crab.

Yumi's fan made short work of two hornets, before she had to hold her other up, to block an onslaught.

Sissi leapt in front of her, taking five shots on the wide bell parts of her sleeves, which absorbed them.

Milly dropped on to the crab, clawing it, before leaping off.

Ulrich triplicated, as a few mantas showed up.

"What's up with all this?" Ulrich asked. "He usually doesn't send monsters like this."

Sissi flipped through the air, sending out a few disks at a manta. Yumi turned to throw her fans at a hornet. She received a returning blast as the hornet blew up.

The group ran through the desert. As the tower loomed into sight, Ulrich received a few hits from a hidden group of kankralets.

Milly blocked a few shots with her claws, before slashing at a few. Sissi and Yumi got a few hits.

"Guys," Jeremie shouted, "Yumi's down to forty lifepoints!"

"Got it!" Milly called. "Cover me!" She called to Sissi, as she fell to her knees, letting out a high, birdlike call.

"Alright Yumi, you've got ninety, use in well."

The two rookies, fighting on exhilaration, were able to take out many monsters.

"Go on, Yumi!" Jeremie called, as Ulrich and Sissi opened a path for her.

The geisha ran ahead, beginning to enter the tower.

Sissi released the last of her forty blades at the last kankralet, just as it almost shot Yumi.

"Nice one, Sissi!" Ulrich yelled, wrapping her in a hug.

"Tower deactivated."

On Earth, the five celebrated their first victory as a group on Lyoko.

As Sissi and Ulrich hugged, Sissi whispered through her tears of joy, "for you, mom."

Ulrich and Jeremie slapped high fives. Sissi gave Milly a quick hug, lifting the smaller girl off the ground. "First of many!" Milly shrieked, happily.

Yumi pulled Jeremie into a close hug. "Everything's gonna be fine," she whispered, hugging him close.

Ulrich pulled Sissi into a kiss.

Yumi followed suit.

After they broke apart, they headed back to Kadic.

Yumi glanced around the group. They were all fixed, despite being hurt.

Though Sissi still missed her mother, she was getting to a life where she had friends, and where she mattered. Everything she wanted.

Though Milly s was still healing, not getting involved with any boys, still hurt after Odd, she now was cared for, and protected.

Though Ulrich still felt awful after the month he missed, betrayed, and mocked, and though he still felt slightly overwhelmed by the new threat X.A.N.A. posed, he was happy, with his friends, and his new girlfriend.

And Jeremie. Jeremie would never be the same after Odd and Aelita. There were still times when she knew he had nightmares, there were still times when their faces flashed in his mind. There would always be times like that.

But Yumi knew that this would just hold them closer.

She knew that this team of friends would never back down from X.A.N.A.'s threat, and never abandon each other.

They would stay forever.

They were the New Order of the Lyoko Warriors.

**Well! Hope you liked this last chapter. I don't think I left any blatantly open loose ends, and I hope that it didn't feel overly delayed or rushed. Review, please, and tell me what you thought!**


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